Just the other day I realized that I’ve been using a BlackBerry® smartphone for over six years. During those six years, I’ve learned quite a few tips and tricks that have allowed me to maximize my smartphone experience. Today I’d like to share five of my favorite tips that I use daily, so grab your BlackBerry smartphone and let’s get started.

This is a really handy tip that applies to BlackBerry smartphones that include a physical keyboard. Whenever you are presented with a menu, you can use your keyboard to quickly cycle through the various menu options by tapping the first letter of any option listed in the menu.

For example, in the screenshot at the top of this post, you’ll notice the menu that appears if you press the Menu key while using the Pictures application on your BlackBerry. If you want to select the “Set as Contact Picture” option, depending on which BlackBerry smartphone you are using, you can scroll up using the trackpad, or simply touch the screen.

My preferred method however is to hit ‘S’ on the BlackBerry smartphone keyboard, as this will start cycling through the Menu and land on anything that starts with an ‘S’. So the first time I hit ‘S’, the option of “Set as Wallpaper” will be highlighted. Hitting ‘S’ again will then highlight the “Set As Contact Picture” option, which is what I was looking for.